Death Shadow - 2
by PeterRook94
Summary: Naruto's body and capacities were sealed when he was 12 for seven years during. Now, in the forest of death Orochimaru broke those seals and by that he freed the true Naruto. Beware Konoha, the Death's Shadow is back and his name is Naruto Kazama. Na/Yuga Adopted by me because it was cancelled and is an awesome story.
1. Chapter 1

_Prologue: I am back_

It hurts. Being slammed a fuinjutsu in the stomach by a Sanin, Orochimaru nonetheless hurts. Of course he had known worst pain than that but it still hurt like hell, he could feel his chakra being disturbed and so much harder to control than it already was, life sucks. Of course he had to play hero and try to save his two abusing team mates even if he knew he was clearly outmatched, and dare I say he was completely and utterly destroyed by the man even if he was just toying with him. He could feel himself being thrown away in the forest even as his consciousness started to fade away, he could feel the wind rushing at his face as he plummeted towards the ground in what he was sure would be a painful landing. But he didn't care, he was already unconscious as he reached the ground and broke his arms and three ribs but he didn't care, he didn't feel the pain in this state.

Naruto, he was Naruto Uzumaki, son of no one and ninja of Konoha his homeland. He was loud, dumb, naive, everything you could find about him was bad even his determination since it always lead to something to dangerous for him to handle and he would have to use the Kyubi chakra that was in him. God was he pathetic without the Kyubi to lend him chakra and help him win his battle, without it he would already be dead since long before that. But what he didn't know was that all his flaws were due to an external source since the start, but that was about to change as numerous black markings appeared on his body and started to fall from it in what was knew as the breaking of a fuinjutsu on the body of someone.

Inside Naruto's mind:

Naruto found himself in what looked like a sewer, he didn't know why but the place installed a feeling of nostalgia in his heart as if he had already came here before but he was sure he didn't know the place. He saw pipes attache on the wall of the corridor he was in, there was three pipes and they glowed different colors, the first one was the smaller it was a light blue and pulsating calmly regularly, the second one was strange since it was at least three times bigger than the first one and glowing a strangely familiar deep red. The last one was the strangest as it was entirely black but he could feel it was truly powerful from just being near it, it was also oddly comforting to just be near it. He was startled when he heard a deep grumble from a door at the end of the corridor where a terrible power was emanating from, he was entranced by it and walked slowly in it's direction before he could even think of the dangers he could be in. After he opened the door, he entered in what he thought to be a giant hall with the floor flooded with water at about one feet of the floor. There was nothing in there apart some sort of cage where he could feel the red chakra was coming from. Normally in situation like this people with common sense will not approach a place like that but for Naruto it was different. The cage was emanating power in spades, but for him it was oddly familiar, comforting and dare he say... loving in a family sense. So without further notice he marched towards the front of the door without a sliver of doubt because whatever was in it he could tell that it would not harm him.

As he reached the opening of the cage, he could see what one would describe as the most terrifying sight they had ever seen, glowing slitted red eyes, but for Naruto they were emanating relief and happiness, as if the had recovered something that was greatly precious to them. It was then that he saw the rest of the body attached to the eyes: it was the body of a giant fox with deep orange fur and what looked like rabbit sized ears, it had also razor sharp tooth in its mouth, it was the Kyubi and weirdly enough it didn't frighten Naruto the slightest to be in the presence of the greatest Biju.

"Hello Naruto, so we see each other again like you promised." said the deep voice of the being in front of him.

"You're the Kyubi right?" at seeing the nod he continued "Why do I have the feeling that we know each other since long ago?" asked Naruto in a somewhat trance like voice.

"Because we met long ago, your 4thbirthday if I remember right. You were quite the ball of energy at that time." at that Kyubi chuckled with a mirthful look in his eyes.

At this Naruto had a big headache and a vision of what he thought was his past, in it there was a small Naruto where he was greeted by the presence of Kyubi in his dreams, there was another in which the great demon lord told him his real name: Kurama. When the pain lessened he looked at the great being with a sense of recognition in his eyes.

"Yo Kurama, been a long time hasn't it? What's happening to me?" asked Naruto in a somewhat deeper voice more fitted in an older teenager.

"The seals are breaking, you're returning to your original state before being restrained by those fools of the council because of their fear of you." at the end the fox growled in what was thought to be annoyance.

"What seals? Urg..." said Naruto before falling to his knees as another wave of memories assaulted him, this time it was memories of his time with his first true friends and he had to admit he missed them greatly now he remembered them.

"It's seals that were designed to seal off your chakra reserve, control and abilities, the second seal was designed to seal off your true appearance and physical abilities. The third and last seal was the one designed to seal off your memories and replace them with others while also sealing your mental capabilities making you a weak ninja with the mind of a 7 years old boy." explained Kyubi in a somewhat compassionate voice, not a good mix with his appearance.

"Kurama, I trust you what will happen now?" asked Naruto quickly as he could feel himself losing consciousness.

"You will black out to escape brain damage because of the shock that your brain will sustain at the recovery of your memories. Then your body will recover from the seals and regain its original appearance along with all your abilities and your kekkei genkai, along with that the block on your mind will be lifted, all in all the process will take approximately 6 hours." explained patiently the fox with giddiness at the prospect of recovering his long lost friend.

"But I'm on the forest floor in the Forest of Death, I can't protect my body."

"Don't worry I got that covered, I will produce an aura around you that will explain to all the animal in your presence that you're not to be messed with so you will not be attacked by either beast or human. Now sleep and I will see the real you in 6 hours." ordered the great being with a chuckle.

"Thank you, Kura...ma." finished Naruto with a smile before succumbing to his headache and falling into unconsciousness.

"At last, he finally is returning. I've got to thank Orochimaru for that even if he doesn't knows it yet he has freed the biggest threat upon his life with his fuinjutsu. Life just got back to being fun."stated Kurama with happiness at the prospect of having finally his host back to his true self, yes life was back to being good.

6 hours later, still in Naruto's mindscape:

He was feeling so much lighter, he hadn't felt this feeling since seven years back when he was just merely twelve years old. He knew this feeling, the feeling of being one's true self without any mask, any restraint just pure Kazama Naruto. Yes, his true name was Kazama Naruto, son of Kazama Arashi the head of the Arashi clan, a clan dedicated at serving the Namikaze clan since their debt at being saved by the at the first Shinobi War. He had a seat that awaited him in the shinobi council as he was now Lord Kazama since he is the last of the Kazama clan.

Naruto still had his eyes closed not wanting to end this feeling of peacefulness and freedom that he experienced before he finally looked back at his memory, he finally focused on one of the last before saying loudly.

"She will so kill me when I see her again."

"I couldn't agree more don't you." said the familiar voice of his brother in all but blood, Kurama.

"Shut up, you oversized fox with bunny ears." said Naruto playfully finally opening his eyes to look at his first and long time friend.

"They are not bunny ears you little bastard!" screamed Kurama in indignation but you could see that he was not truly angry if the smirk on his face was any indication.

It was all they had to say before they started to laugh loudly, the mirth evident in their eyes and true happiness oozing off them at being reunited again, they hadn't truly see each other in seven years so it was a great relief to be back together again. After five minute or so they finally settled down again after regaining their breath, it was Naruto who started the conversation.

"It's good to see you again bro."

"I know, it's good to finally having a true worthy hos again. So what are you going to do now that you're back?" asked a somewhat eager Kurama.

"First I've got to change and retrieve back the princess from our old dojo which is thankfully in this forest. Seriously, who could like orange at this point." stated Naruto.

"I've got to say that you're right, orange is awful." nodded approvingly the Biju.

"Secondly, I've got to save my 'teammates' asses and then go to the tower to complete the second task. Then I don't know, it depends on what we should do for the third task and if there is time between, but I know that when I have time I will go see my old friends and my Uncle and Aunt." stated a now late teenager Naruto.

At this Kyubi seemed to nod in agreement since he wasn't saying anything else before he looked him straight in the eyes saying.

"And what are you going to do about this place, I admit that a sewer is not exactly my definition of relaxing."

"Ah, sorry, sorry. I kind of forgot about that, let me get this down." said Naruto in a carefree voice that he knew damn annoyed Kurama.

At this everything around them started to change: first there was no more cage but a collar around Kurama's neck with a tag with on it the kanji for seal, second they were now in a beautiful forest with a clear river running through it and there was the blue sky filled with fluffy cloud. Last but not least there was also the mansion that Naruto had build for Kurama's comfort, it was made in a traditional Japanese style. After that Naruto talked again.

"Well now that its done, I have to go and complete this fucking exam and don't worry, you know I can ace through it."

"Yes I know, stay in contact." said Kyubi while watching as Naruto started fading before he was no longer there. "Now for quality time." Kurama said as he started trotting to the mansion where he knew he had a Icha Icha collection waiting for him after so much time.

Outside of Naruto's mind, the Forest of Death:

As Naruto opened his eyes, he could see that it was night time and he surely could retrieve his teammates the next morning so he decided to go to his previous favorite place before being sealed. As he stood up he could feel his old orange jumpsuit clinging to him very tightly and he knew why but it was sure damn annoying. Before when he was still sealed he was 4 feet 10 inches(1m47) but know without these restraints he was 6 feet(1m82) in height and his jumpsuit was too tight for him to wear now. He got rid of the jacket and black t-shirt leaving him bare-chested before he started running in what seemed to be a random direction but in reality he knew exactly where he was going. Before he was sealed, he and his best friend had a hidden place in the Forest of Death in order to train and meet away from the prying eye since it would have leveled some questions that they did not really want to answer some questions that might have been asked about their relationship. As he ran in the forest he started reminiscing how exactly they built a place like that here, at first it was really a crazy story.

Flashback: 9 years ago, Naruto's age:10:

_Naruto and his friend were standing on the Hokage monument in Konoha after a long day of training in one of their secret training place since they didn't want their friendship to be revealed just now even if their closest friends already knew about it they just didn't want to be disturbed by the populace of Konoha. They were calmly sitting on the head of the first Hokage who in their opinion was the greatest Hokage of the four along with his brother Tobirama, the second Hokage. It was truly a relaxing sight, before them stood the village illuminated by the setting sun giving it a gentle orange halo that made it really beautiful. They liked to come here after every training session that they had. It was his friend that first started talking._

_"You know, I'm tired to have to find a training ground where nobody will find us each time we train. I mean why don't we build our own training ground, it would certainly ease our time." the voice was clearly feminine and there was surely a hint of grace in it._

_"Where did that come from?" asked Naruto with a curious look on his face as he turned to face her._

_"From quite some time, I'm tired to have to hide my friendship with you but if we have to I want to at least be comfortable when we hide." he knew she was upset with their situation._

_"I know and me too I want to display our friendship to everyone and stop hiding but it's for your own security, I don't want you to be hurt just because you're friend with the Kyubi brat." said Naruto with a sad look._

_"You know I don't care that you hold the Kyubi, the others too don't." stated the girl with an angry look._

_Naruto sighed and took her hand in his while trying to soothe her anger which calmed the girl but made her blush slightly at the gesture. It wasn't long before she was calm again and he started talking._

_"Yes I know you all don't care but the villagers do, and I wouldn't put it past them to try and hurt you to get to me and I couldn't forgive myself if something happened to you or the others because of me." he said with a kind smile on his face that seemed to make all the girls around him sigh in admiration._

_"Yes, I know but that doesn't mean I have to like it." stated his friend with a pout that made him laugh and her blush more._

_"So, what was it with your idea of building a training ground and where?" asked the blond quite curious about her idea._

_"Well, we could build one to suit our need and to be hidden from the populace for more privacy. This way we wouldn't have to change training ground each times. I thought of where it could be and I found a place but you won't be pleased." stated the girl with a nervous look._

_"Where?" asked Naruto with a suspicious look as he had a feeling he wouldn't like what he would hear._

_"In the Forest of Death, I found a clearing where we could build it and with your knowledge of seals we could ward it to be invisible and animal/human repellents apart from us and those keyed to the seals." she explained rapidly after seeing the look of barely contained anger on his face at the mention of her going into the forest without him._

_"'sigh' So let me get this straight, you went into the forest without me, then you found a clearing and thought it good for our need and then you want me to use the seals of my family to ward the place so we can construct it. Am I getting it all?" he asked with a twitch in his eyes._

_"Yes..." she said shyly knowing the earful she was about to get but was surprised when she only got a sigh of exasperation in return._

_"Alright, take me to this place and we will see from there." he said and stood up._

_"Wait, you're not mad at me for going into there without you?" she asked confused._

_"Yes I'm angry, you could have been hurt and stay in there without help or worst die. Yes I'm disappointed in you, you should have me come with you every time you go in there since the animals knows not to mess with me as I have the Kyubi sealed in me. But I understand that I won't always be there to help you and it was a good experience for you but my biggest emotion right now is relief." stated Naruto getting another confused look from the girl still sited._

_"Relief?"_

_"Yes relief, relief that you came back alive and not injured. I don't know what I would do without you in my life." he admitted while turning his back to her so she wouldn't see how red he was blushing._

_She was really touched that he would think of her like that and before he knew what happened she had hugged him from behind with her head in his back. She started speaking before he could protest. (not that he would be she doesn't need to know that)_

_"Thank you for trusting me Naruto." she said he voice muffled due to her still having her head in his back and to not show her blushing face._

_"No problem, let's go." he said and they finally got there to examine the place._

_It had taken 6 months but they had finally managed to finish their secret place and they were damn proud of it. It was a magnificent dojo with beige walls lined with wood. Inside their was a sparing room with boken and real katana on the walls to use as weapons. Their was also two lockers, one for each gender and in was standard kendo practice attire. But their favorites was still the onsen that Naruto somehow built in the back on the dojo and she still didn't know how he did it. They were standing in front of their dojo with grins on their faces as they were quite proud of the results they got from their hard work. It was her who broke the silence._

_"Come on Naruto let's go!" she shouted as she ran towards the entrance._

_"Oi, Wait for me …." shouted back Naruto with a smile of amusement on his face._

Flashback end: (Aha, you thought I would have told you her name so quickly, don't worry it will be told in the 1st chapter.)

And here he was standing in front of the dojo who had not changed one inch since the last time he came here. It was still standing proud and he was quite please with himself if he admitted it. He got inside and directly made his way towards his locker without any hesitation since remembered the place quite well even after seven years. Once he got there he immediately got out of the rest of his old clothes before going directly towards the back door where he got in his onsen. The place was actually quite peaceful and beautiful since it was an outdoor onsen and there was a beautiful sight of the forest around it. He didn't go in the water first but he made his way towards where he knew the cleaning supplies where before he set to wash himself quite thoroughly since he didn't like being dirty but it comes with the job and he wouldn't have it any other way. As he finished cleaning himself he took a towel from the stack and a small piece of wood that could float on the water before he opened a secret stash that he had hidden under one of the stone on the ground. From it he took a bottle of rare Iwa sake with a small cup before setting it in the piece of wood and going in water where he sat himself at the border before deposing the wood in the water and uncorking the bottle before drinking a small cup of it and releasing a small sigh of pleasure and relaxation as he finally rested in the water. Don't ask him where he got the sake because of the relation between Iwa and Konoha were quite strained since the third Shinobi War, he would not tell a soul how he got it but he would never share it with anyone other than his friends.

He didn't know how many time it was since he got in but when he spotted the first rays of sun through the leaf he could tell that it was time for him to go and finish this task with his so called 'teammates'. He didn't even know why he did that for them, Ah yes, he had to keep their sorry asses alive if he wanted to complete the task. As his Uncle would say "Damn troublesome..." (AN: anyone can guess who is his Uncle? Come on it's easy with the clue.) So he got up and went back to the locker to clothe himself before heading out, he also had to retrieve his princess from the basement so he hurried himself as he knew she had sensed him come back.

Once he got in the locker he looked around and spotted his outfit that was fitted for him, he had ordered it a long time ago for his promotion as chunin, guess he would have to use it a little earlier. He started by putting on some black underpants, followed by that he put on Anbu styled black pants with a bit more pockets than the standard ones. After that he put a black short sleeved turtleneck muscle shirt and he added to that black combat boots. He put on a gray belt with the head of a silver fox as a buckle, he also put two red leather belts on his torso in a 'X' cross pattern. With that he strapped two utility pouch on his belt behind his back: they contained each 30 kunais, 35 shurikens, 15 explosive tags, 4 smoke bombs and 20m of ninja wire. In his pants pockets, he added numerous scrolls with different colors: blue, black, red, yellow, purple and finally green.

He looked himself on the mirror and he had to admit that he looked pretty damn professional compared to his sealed self and his orange obsession, what self-respecting ninja wear orange anyway? He was about to go away before he remembered that he still had his headband missing but he knew what to replace it with. He walked towards a drawer in the room and opened it to reveal many pairs of black fingerless gloves with metal plates on it and the leaf insignia on them. He smirked as he put them on and he felt that his ninja regalia was finally complete as he missed just one thing.

He walked out of the room and into the sparing room before he walked towards a stair case that leaded under the floor where he could see a door that was sealed with one of his family seal. As he was in front of the door he could see his family emblem on it where the seal was hidden in it; it was a dragon head with katana crossing behind it, the same insignia that he had in white on his left breast. He cut his thumb before smearing the blood on the seal and sending his chakra in it, the seal was particular in that it wasn't an standard blood seals as this one did not only react with his blood but also with his chakra signature since it wouldn't do if someone just got his blood and smeared it on the seal to access the room, no this was far more surer. As he heard the distinct click that signaled the opening of the door he could feel his heart beating fast with excitement at the prospect of recovering his princess after seven years, after all she was part of his soul so it was normal he missed it. He entered the room and he saw her, his beautiful princess: it was a gorgeous katana with a handle wrapped in black clothes with crimson diamond pattern on it that continued as the sheath it was in was midnight black with the same diamond pattern. It was truly a piece of art and you could feel the power leaking from it even if it was still sheathed, he could almost feel the happiness radiating from the word at his presence. He walked towards it and with a hand shaking in excitement he grabbed it and suddenly he was brought in what he called his 'soulscape' since it wasn't exactly his mindscape.

Naruto's soulscape:

As he entered his soulscape he could see the familiar place where he had met his trusted partner, his friend and most of all his Zampakuto. The place was a beautiful clearing filled with blood red roses and he was standing in the middle of a path that was leading towards a circular place where the ground was set in black and white tiles. On it there was a small table with a set of cups and tea, around it was two chairs. But the most beautiful thing about it was the beautiful woman singing with joy oozing out of her voice. She was standing at the height of 5 feet 7 inches(1m70) with long crimson hair set in a formal bun on the back of her head with some loose bangs framing her heart-shaped face. She had beautiful crimson eyes framed by long curly eyelashes, she had a small nose and ruby red lips that you could tell were naturals and not with lipstick. Her lithe body was framed by a breathtaking black kimono with red lilies pattern. She had an hourglass figure with what seemed to C-cup breasts and not so wide hips. Her beauty seemed to be from another world as it was too beautiful to be from this world, she was his Zampakuto.

Naruto stood there just taking in her beauty and listening to her beautiful voice that seemed to entrance him and make him peaceful. She finished her song five minutes later and when she looked at him she gave a gorgeous smile before running to him and launching herself in his arms while crying.

"Naruto-kun, I'm so glad that you're back. Never leave me alone again, I don't want you to leave me alone again." she said as she cried in his arms in joy to finally regain her partner and master. She was pleasantly surprised when he embraced her tightly to reassure her he wasn't leaving again.

"Don't worry princess, I won't leave you again. Shh, everything will be alright now." said Naruto as he whispered soothing words in her ear to calm her.

After five minutes she calmed herself and reluctantly separated herself from his warmth that she loved so much. She got to look at him after seven years of absence and she had to admit that he looked damn good in his outfit and he radiated an air of power and confidence. It was Naruto who broke the silence.

"I missed you, you have no idea." he stated.

"And what should I say, without you I can't do anything else but wait until someone find me but with your seal it would not happen. But now you're back and if I have anything to say, you're back for good." she said with an air of assurance around her as she puffed her cheeks making her look extremely cute instead of serious.

"Yes, I'm back for good. We will talk much later as I've a task to complete but know that you're not leaving my side now." he stated as he started to fade.

"Yes Naruto, I will always be by your side to help you." said the red head.

"We will see each other later Benihime" and then Naruto was gone from his soulscape.

Back in the basement under the dojo:

Naruto opened his eyes while smiling, he got his princess back. He took the katana from his resting place he strapped it to across his back with a red string of ropes to keep it steady. As Naruto was walking out of the dojo and in the forest he smiled knowing that his return would make the Hokage freak out but he didn't care. No, he will use everything he have to bring back the Kazama to glory and now he was free of the debt he had with the Namikaze since the Fourth utilized him to seal the Kyubi and by proximity rendering the debt fulfilled freeing the Kazama from the curse that the Namikaze were.

_"I'm Back!"_ and with that said Naruto seemed to disappear in the wind as if he never was here to begin.


	2. Chapter 2

_Chapter 1: Reunion and Preliminaries! (part 1)_

Sakura and Sasuke's hiding place, the morning after Orochimaru's ambush:

At this time, all you could see about Sakura was an exhausted girl after spending just one night without sleeping. Now, you're going to tell me that anyone would be after spending one night without sleeping, more so after fighting with a Sanin. But what most people tend to forget is that ninja are much more resistant to sleep than normal civilian since their jobs are usually done in the night for extra cover. Coupled with that, there is the fact that she did nothing in the fight against Orochimaru but collecting Sasuke's unconscious form and hide herself and him in the trunk of a tree.

You see Sakura is one of the worst type of Kunoichi out there that exist, fangirls. While it is arguable, they are nothing but a bunch of little girls that thought that by looking pretty and learning but the least basics they were full fledged Kunoichi and they could seduce their subject of love. Normally, the jonin instructors are instructed to break them of their little dreams if they don't want to have them die by the first hard mission they would encounter. I would like to let you remark that again Sakura did nothing against Zabuza nor against Haku as she let her two teammates do the job for her.

But the problem is that Kakashi hardly do anything but team exercise to make them work together better even if it doesn't work. Kakashi should have broke Sakura of her fanaticism as soon as he could to prevent anything dramatic to happen while under his watch, but that did not happen. Instead of that you could tell that the Hatake encouraged the thing so as to further expand Sasuke's ego that was already too big to be healthy. Sakura did not train herself after their team meetings instead choosing to stalk her love interest and watch him train, she was also endangering her own health by dieting. Dieting, in the ninja world is a fatal error, the life of a ninja requesting more energy than that of a civilian demand more nutriments to keep following their rhythms of life thus dieting bring an even lower dose of nutriments thus making the ninja exhaust himself much faster.

As a result of all of this, Sakura is skinny borderline anorexic as we can see her ribs through her skin, she is also at the level of an academy student and did really pass the exam only thanks to the written part of it. The only thing going for her at the moment would be her brain and even then it is so obsessed by the Uchiha that her common sense and logic side are totally screwed making her inapt to be a Kunoichi mentally and physically. Kakashi should have reported that to the Hokage since it was endangering the well being of his team but the bastard choose to let her continue on the path of self destruction and let her disgrace the name of Kunoichi.

And that's how as she saw Lee getting beaten by the sound team that she only thought about how could they survive without her Sasuke-kun fighting with them. In fact she had totally forgotten about her blond teammate ever since he disappeared in their fight with Orochimaru. She was beaten and tired but all she could think was how the Uchiha would wake and save the day like always. It was how deluded in her fantasies she was, if someone knew about her thoughts she would have had to spend the rest of her life in the psychology ward of the Konoha hospital for a long stay about her mental disorder. She was brought out of her silly thoughts when she heard the guy in bandages say something as he held Lee by his neck.

"You thoughts you could beat us you little pieces of shit. I will propose one last deal or we will all kill you: Give us the Uchiha and we will give you back this bastard, if you don't, we will kill everyone of you. It's your choice but personally I prefer the second option." it was all said with what she could think was a smirk underneath the bandages.

For Sakura it was little reflection, there was no way she would give her Sasuke in exchange for this weird guy, even if he was a ninja of the leaf. So it was with extreme stupidity that she screeched in her annoying voice.

"Are you idiot, I will never give you Sasuke-kun! You will all die when he wake up and save me!"

"You made your choice now face the consequences." Dosu said in a calm voice.

He then brought a kunai out of his pouch and positioned it where when he brought it down it would cut his jugular. It was with an immense glee that he started to bring his arm down.

Everywhere in the clearing, people looked on with helplessness as he brought the kunai down. Shikamaru had thought about stopping him with his shadow but he could not do it fast enough with the distance and he was cursing himself for that. Ino watched as a fellow Konoha ninja was about to be killed in front of her and something snapped in her. Her idealistic thoughts about the ninja world broke down to let place for the reality that she could be killed everyday in this carrier, she knew she wasn't strong enough compared to her teammates. She knew she was basically worthless even with her clan technique that she learned, she knew that she had to better herself if she wanted to survive in this world, it was how it worked: the strong survive while the weak perish. Choji was cursing his own helplessness in the front of this enemy, they could have come to his help when he fought and now they had to watch as he was killed, it was truly a gruesome thought. Tenten was openly crying as she watched the execution of her teammates, she had come to like him greatly in their last year together as teammates even with his weirdly ways he was one who would immediately bring a sensation of happiness within their group. She closed her eyes as she couldn't watch any longer the death of her great friend.

Neji, even if everyone thought that he disliked his teammate was actually attached to him. He was the first one who stood up against him and bring him back to earth in making him see that he was still just a genin and that he could still be brought down. It was a secret between them but Lee had already won against him, in a spar Lee managed to be the last one standing and after that day they spared from times to times to see who was the strongest. Actually Lee had one more win than him and he would die the better of the two. Neji closed his eyes and let a lone tear fall down his right eye and he mentally cursed the fate that was brought down his first real friend.

But one thought was present in all the minds present in this clearing, disgust at the attitude of their pink-haired fellow Konoha ninja. How could she abandon Lee to his fate like that while thinking that the Uchiha would save her in this time. It was truly pathetic of her and they knew at this time that she would be an outcast in the Konoha genin rank. They didn't want to be friends with her anymore. Another thoughts ran by all their heads: Where was Naruto?

Lee watched as the kunai made his way slowly to his jugular and he closed his eyes thinking it was the end for him. His last thoughts were sent to his teammates.

_'Thank you Neji, Tenten. You were really my best friends and my teammates through all of this. Farewell and let us meet on the other side.'_

He waited for the blade to pierce his skin but after 15sec it was still not here so he chanced himself and opened his eyes to have the biggest surprise of his life. In front of him stood a man about 20 years old and he was grabbing the hand of the sound ninja inches before his jugular, it was really a life saver. Then he remarked things about the man that stood out: his blond hair that reached his lower neck with the two bangs at each sides of his face, the 6 whiskers like marks on his cheeks, the sword on his back, but the one thing that stood out was his cold, almost glacier like, frost blue eyes set in fury upon his enemy. There was only one person who was like that and had this whiskers mark: Naruto Uzumaki.

"Na-Naruto-san?" stammered Lee upon seeing the figure more closely.

"I see that I'm not too late Lee." responded the man in a baritone voice but not denying the fact that he was indeed Naruto.

All around the clearing the rookies were shocked, not only someone saved Lee in time but it looked like the person was an older looking Naruto. They were glad that Lee was saved but they could not fathom how Naruto could be older or how could he be fast enough to appear out of thin air and stop the blow before it reached his target. Naruto sighed tiredly as he looked at Dosu.

"'sigh' I would like it if you released my friend here before I'm forced to cut your arm." stated Naruto with a sweet smile on his face that fooled no one as hey could clearly sense the dreadful feeling attached to his voice.

Dosu, who had not yet recuperated that someone stopped him did as he was asked and released Lee before he shook his head and regained his bearings before going back to his teammates as fast as he could. This man was dangerous if he had not sensed him before he had touched his arm. Naruto grabbed Lee and seemed to disappear in thin air again before appearing in front of Tenten and Neji scaring the shit out of them.

"Please take care of him while I talk with the sound team, you're welcome to stay after if you want. And next time, control Lee before he does something as stupid as that again." said Naruto in a kind voice that you would expect to be that of a child caretaker.

They could only nod dumbly at that as he deposited Lee in front of them and disappeared again before reappearing in the last spot he was while looking towards Sakura.

"You disappoint me Sakura, no scratch that, you disgust me. How could you let a fellow Konoha ninja die like that just because you're infatuated with the Uchiha, I will report that to the Hokage and demand that you be evaluated mentally as to see if you're fit to be a kunoichi or not." said Naruto with a look of utter disappointment and disgust.

Sakura was at a loss of words, who was this man? How dare he critic her? Who is he to reprimand her? But she could not express her fury at his words as the sound team finally regained use of their voices.

"Hey you dickhead, what do you mean you will report her to your Hokage. You will not be alive to do that so stand here quietly as we kill you." shouted Zaku with a grin on his face that quickly disappeared as Naruto turned his head to look at them.

They were sweating profusely, this feeling, the feeling you have when you're hunted and you know that you can't escape your death. This feeling of dread, as if the Shinigami was behind them, embracing them in his arms and welcoming them to the kingdom of the dead. This feeling, it came from him, from this man... no, from this monster that appeared out of nowhere. It was as if a giant was in front of them, looking at mere flies in his path. He started talking in a calm deadly voice.

"Who gave you permission to talk child?"

Kin was on her knees suffocating and the other two were not better, this man could kill them like they were nothing. They were just snot nosed brat in front of him. His mere presence was dangerous, it was even more powerful than that of Orochimaru for God's sake. He talked once more in a relaxed voice as if he was talking about the weather.

"Leave your scroll here and disappear from my sight, I don't want to see you again in this part of the exam, if I do you will not live another day to talk about it. Am I clear?"

His voice, it was that of a natural leader, they could not fight against him even if it meant abandoning their mission of killing the Uchiha. Dosu struggled as he picked their earth scroll from his pouch and deposited it on the ground without a word and he said two words before disappearing with his team.

"Y-Yes sir..."

Naruto clicked his tongue before walking and picking the scroll from the ground and packing it away in one of his pants' pockets. He then said in a clear voice.

"Alright, team Gai, team 10, gather here now." his tone was that of a commander and they could not find it in themselves to fight it.

As Team Gai and Team 10 appeared in front of him, he gave them an approving glance before starting to speak again.

"Good, you're fast enough. I'm disappointed in you all. You could have stepped in the fight sooner and stopped it faster before I had to step in to save one of you."

At this they all looked on the ground in shame because they knew it was true, they could have helped Lee sooner and stopped it from happening. What surprised them was the ease with which he talked to them as a leader. Naruto let out a sigh before speaking again.

"We're Konoha ninjas, our strength is in our comrades and in our will to continue forward. If one of our comrades is in danger we do not ask ourselves if we can or can't save him, we just do it, it's how Konoha was born. The next time something like that happen, do not stand there watching, step in and save your comrades. Faith in our comrades and strength in our wills, that's what a Konoha ninja is and that's what you will be later in your life, you're still young and things like that happen. Do not let it get to you, if you want to stop it from happening again then train yourselves to be better, train till you drop unconscious on the ground, train till you bleed from your punches so that one of your comrades do not die because you couldn't save him. AM I CLEAR?" he shouted at the end.

"SIR, YES SIR!" they shouted back.

This man was truly a natural leader, he was a better leader than any of their jonin instructors. He made them learn the most important lessons in their carrier as a ninja in just a few moments as their instructors struggled to make them understand this philosophy of life. This day, they have found a person to look at, a true shinobi of the leaf, one who lives by his philosophy and die with no regrets because he knew he did the best he could. And the fact that he won against the sound team with just his aura was a fact to not be overlooked at. It was Shikamaru who asked a question that all of them seemed to have forgotten.

"Hum, excuse me but are you really Naruto?"

"'sigh' Yes I am Shikamaru."

"But how?" asked Neji who was confused.

Naruto opened his mouth to reply but before he could, an explosion of foul chakra happened and it was coming from none other than Sasuke Uchiha, Emo-prince of Konoha. He slowly walked out of the hollow trunk and they could see black flame like tattoo on his face and his right arm, he was producing an alarming amount of this foul chakra and the genin were scared, all but Naruto who looked bored and Sakura who looked delighted that her Sasuke was back.

"Sakura, who did this to you?" asked Sasuke in a trance like voice.

"Sasuke-kun..." answered Sakura in a girlish manner seeing the Uchiha cared for her.

Sasuke seeing one man he did not know assumed it was him who attacked his worthless teammate so he charged without a plan seeing as he felt more powerful than he had in his entire life, and frankly who could stop the almighty Uchiha. His speed was great... for a genin.

"Feel the power of the Uchiha!" yelled Sasuke as he was ten feet from Naruto.

As Sasuke reached the five feet distance Naruto suddenly disappeared only to appear right beside Sasuke while grabbing his neck. Naruto suddenly smashed Sasuke in the ground which created a mini crater from the strength of the blow, he lifted the Uchiha again before repeating the process until the Sharingan user was limp as he was unconscious from the damage. He threw his body back in the hollow tree before speaking in an annoyed tone.

"Damn Uchiha and their pride, too loud in the morning seriously. Just like Itachi if not worse."

The others were awed at how he manhandled the crazy Uchiha as it would seem that not even the boost of foul chakra was enough to beat the new Naruto. It strengthened their beliefs that there was more of Naruto that they were told. It was then that the pink banshee came to face Naruto and screamed at him while the others shook their heads and prayed for the poor soul as they now knew that it would be better for their health to not antagonize the blond.

"What did you do to my Sasuke-kun you bastard, when he wake up he will beat you and you will ask for forgive..." started screeching Sakura.

Naruto was already angry after the Uchiha started attacking him so he was not in the mood to deal with a delude fangirl so he gathered chakra in his fingers and flicked her head, the power sending her also in the hollowed tree, unconscious. It was scary to see him do that. But they certainly understood why he did that, she was damn annoying. He walked back to them before talking in a more calm voice.

"So what is your state for this exam, Team 10?"

"We have an earth scroll, still researching for a heaven scroll but none of us is injured, Naruto-sempai." replied Shikamaru seeing as calling him simply Naruto didn't seem right.

"Naruto-sempai? I like that. And you Team Gai?" answered Naruto.

"We have the two scrolls needed to complete the exam and we have one injured." replied Neji seeing as Naruto was their temporary leader and he was not complaining about that seeing as Naruto sure was powerful.

"Alright."

Naruto fished something in his pouch before taking out a heaven scroll and throwing it at Shikamaru who was surprised.

"Here take it, with that all of us have the required scrolls. We will leave in two hours to the tower as one group to prevent from being attacked. In this two hours I want Lee to be treated for his injuries and all of you to recuperate enough energy to attain the tower in one trip without pause. Am I clear?" instructed Naruto.

"Sir, yes sir." replied all of the genins while straitening themselves before heading to their task.

The blond man sighed as he sat against the trunk of a tree before taking out Benihime and starting to sharpen her. This action attracted the sight of one weapon mistress as she was one hardcore blade lover. She almost zoomed to him with stars in her eyes at the sight of the weapon and immediately asked him questions about it.

"You own a sword? Who forged it? It's beautiful can I touch it?"

"Yes, I own this sword. And it wasn't exactly forged and no, you can't touch it as she is rather violent with other people's hands." replied Naruto never taking his eyes off from his sword.

"Huh, she?" asked Tenten dumbly as it dragged the attention of most of the group of genin.

"Yes she, Benihime is a sentient sword and she dislike being touched by other hands than mine. She can be rather moody even if she is the most beautiful sword you will find out there, coming second only to Sode no Shirayuki." he continued talking while sharpening his sword to perfection and he sheathed it away before strapping back the katana to his back and standing up while stretching.

"What's the situation for now?" asked the blond leader.

"Lee is almost healed completely and we have the energy to go to the tower in one trip." assessed Shikamaru for the group.

"Good, be ready to leave in ten minutes. We can't afford to be ambushed with this many people." ordered Naruto.

"Sir, yes sir." it was becoming an automatic answer for them as they found Naruto to be a good leader, one who thought of his comrades and made the best decisions for them.

And when the ten minutes where up, they started moving with two of Naruto's clones transporting the Uchiha and the pink gorilla. They were making their way smoothly with Naruto at the front and Neji behind him with his Byakugan activated so as to detect traps and enemy teams, they made for an impressive sight as they were an organized group, Naruto would not allow foolishness in his group in enemy territory. Three hours later and 6 exhausted genins later and they were at the tower, Naruto landed first and turned so as to speak with all of them.

"It's here that we separate to finish this exam, I hope that you all learned this lesson with the battle with the sound team. I expect you to do your best at the next phase of the exam so make the leaf and me proud of calling you our comrades. Am I clear?" he said all that with a smile on his face.

"Sir, yes sir." they all replied with the same smile. (even Neji, I know it freaks me too)

"Good, now go your way." he said and with that all the teams went their own way to enter the tower.

Naruto sighed as he looked at his unconscious teammates, they really were a hassle to handle. As he entered the tower with the two being moved by clones he opened the doors to find himself in front of the familiar saying that strength and intelligence go in hands and that if one lacked either they had to train themselves to be the best they could. He took an earth and a heaven scroll from his pants' pockets and opened them at the same time to gaze at his favorite teacher and sempai when he was in the academy years before.

Iruka was having a normal day for a ninja, he could only wait as the students he once had opened the scrolls to summon him to end their tasks. So when he was summoned it was with great confusion that he saw a 20 years old looking Naruto as well as his two unconscious teammates in a corner of the room. It wasn't until he heard the deep baritone voice of Naruto that he snapped out of his daze.

"I didn't know I would have this effect on you sempai." said the blond with a chuckle.

"Naruto, is that the real you?" asked Iruka while hoping that his younger friend was back.

"Yes Iruka, I'm finally back and for good." he replied with a smile.

"But... How?" asked a confused Iruka while he was happy to regain one of his old friends.

"Long story short, snakeface slammed a _Gogyo Fuin_ on me which destroyed the seals and let me revert back to my true self. Thanks for taking care of me in my false body." said Naruto.

"It was nothing, but by snakeface you don't mean..." said the academy teacher with a dreading look on his face.

"Unfortunately yes, it was Orochimaru. He deposited his little hickey on our dear Emo-prince here before going back to his lair." replied Naruto with a serious look on his face.

"Damn, here goes my retirement from Anbu." muttered the scar-faced ninja.

"Hum, so you got in Anbu but retired. I guess felicitations are calling even if it is late." replied Naruto with a smile on his face.

"Thanks, I loved it there but I guess I love teaching more." said Iruka with a proud smile.

"So which mask did they give you?" asked Naruto in curiosity.

"Not telling." said the ex-Anbu.

"Don't tell me they did, oh that's the best. They really gave you the dolphin mask, eh agent Iruka." said Naruto in a fit of laughter on the ground.

"S-shut up! I didn't have the choice and I got enough of it with the others so piss off." replied Iruka with an embarrassed blush on his face.

"Alright, alright. Calm down Iruka, I won't laugh at you anymore." said Naruto before a serious look came upon him. "How did _she_ react to my sealing?"

"'sigh' Badly, really badly. She threw herself in training and we had to stop her before she trained herself to death. She became Anbu like me, she was Cat, she still is now she has her own squad as she is a captain. She was still looking for ways to release you last time I saw her." explained Iruka with a sad smile.

"I see, then could you tell her to come here the day of the end of the 2nd task, we have much to talk." said Naruto.

"I will but you know she will kill you for being this stupid?"

"Yes, I know." said Naruto with a shudder as he knew she could be quite sadistic.

"Let's not talk about that now, let's catch up with a few bottle of sake." said an enthusiastic Iruka.

"You, my friend, know how to talk to me?" replied Naruto.

As they left the room laughing, they had forgotten about the two unconscious bodies of Sasuke and Sakura that were still on the ground. Five hours later, a chunin who checked the room found the bodies and immediately rushed to them only to sigh in relief at seeing they were not dead and seeing the two open scrolls on the ground he assumed they completed the task and so he brought them to free rooms so they could rest.

3 days later, final day of the second task:

Naruto was bored, utterly and simply bored. During the first day he was there he caught up with Iruka and had quite a few drinks with the man before his friend had to go back to the village and do his request, he had not seen him since. After that he had put a powerful henge on himself so as to not arouse suspicion on him since he shouldn't look like a 20 years old man, it was truly annoying to not be able to roam freely in your true body.

The only thing that was interesting was his late night meeting with Gaara the night before, the red haired teen was quite the psychopath if the sand he had to escape was any indication. He remembered that Kurama had warned him to be careful around the teen since he held Shukaku, the one-tailed tanuki, as the beast granted its owner the power to control sand as previously demonstrated and also the power came quite a bit of insanity. He had wondered about Kurama's own sanity as the fox retailed how he had one day made a sandcastle out of the Shukaku's body after one of their fight.

So here he was standing with the other chunin hopefuls in front of the Hokage as he gave his speech about the replacement of war within the five great hidden villages, Naruto had to stop himself from rolling his eyes at the utter bullshit that the old man seemed to sputter at the minute. He was also annoyed at the sight of the appearance of one Hayate Gecko, he remembered the bastard as the last time he had seen him he had to stop himself from castrating the man but that was a story for another time.

The Kazama heir considered bashing the face of Sakura in her head as she kept telling the Uchiha to quit because of the pain he was in, she could get to ones nerves quite well and he knew that someday someone had to get her back to earth and he would be the one to watch with popcorn at his sides or he would do it himself. He saw the guy that called himself Kabuto quit and could immediately see that he was not a genin, no he was much more powerful than a simple genin could.

After that they they were led to the balcony as they had to do preliminaries since their was too much participant in this tournament. When they reached their places, Naruto immediately saw that Sakura wanted to talk to him so he sighed since he knew Kakashi would hear this conversation.

"Hey Naruto-baka, where were you these last days we didn't saw you after arriving at the tower?" she asked in her annoying voice.

"'sigh' I was here and there in the tower, I discussed with quite a few other teams and I didn't want to see you or the Uchiha so it was quite normal that you didn't see me." finished Naruto, he knew it wasn't the Naruto they were used to because of their incredulous looks and he was too tired to play a game of deceiving with them.

"What do you mean Naruto? Why didn't you want to spend time with your teammates?" asked Kakashi in his annoying lazy tone.

"It means what it means, I had not the patience to play being nice with them whereas I would rather bash their heads in the walls for toying with me. So please, excuse me if I'm rude but I have enough of being the one who is always receiving hateful comments." explained the blond in an exasperated voice.

To say they were shocked would be an understatement, Naruto was talking back to them and with no certain dose of sarcasm. It was new to them to see Naruto use an intelligent form of humor and to use it against them was certainly a surprise, and it was a big amount of anger that Sakura replied.

"What do you mean bash our heads, you don't hold a candle against Sasuke and you wouldn't last five minutes against me so shut up you useless knucklehead."

She didn't see Naruto go rigid at the statement that he couldn't last in a fight against them and she didn't notice the tension in his muscles as she said he was a knucklehead, but Kakashi had and he was expecting the worst. So it was with surprise that he saw Naruto relax his body before he turned and looked at Sakura in the eyes with an extremely hard look that had her flinching and shivering in fright.

"You better shut your mouth, _kid_." whispered Naruto loud enough that everyone could hear him.

Sakura was frozen in place, it was like she was facing a man that could kill her like a flies if she attired his ire. For him she was just a kid, someone not even worth his time and it was frightening that it came from Naruto. Kakashi regained his bearings before starting to scold his blond student.

"Naruto, I will not have you threaten your teammates..." but he was cut in by Naruto.

"And you would better control your students if you don't want to lose one of them Hatake, I will not stand anymore for this behavior toward myself and if it continues you will not like the outcome." said Naruto before walking away to talk with the other teams.

They were stunned, Naruto had just talked to Kakashi as if he wasn't his superior in hierarchy. He had just placed an ultimatum on them for they behavior, and it was one they were afraid of. But before they could contest his actions the first names appeared on the board for the first match.

Sasuke Uchiha vs Akado Yoroi

That shut them up immediately since it was Sasuke who was going to fight first, they immediately started to cheer him upon his sure victory and to not exhaust himself too much.

By Naruto's side he scoffed as he saw the names appear on the board and he muttered something that sounded [...damn council and their favoritism...]. Being near team ten, they heard this part and Shikamaru being curious about this asked him a question.

"Uh? Why are you saying that there is favoritism Naruto?"

"'sigh' I'm saying favoritism because it's exactly what it is. If you knew about how Konoha works you would have understood immediately but let me explain. First point, is that Sasuke is the Uchiha clan heir and as such he is considered to be the most powerful genin of the lot. This is to show Konoha's strength in making the first fight spectacular with the best genin so that the next fights seems dulls and without interest." started to explain Naruto in what many called his lecture mode.

"That makes sense, but please continue Naruto." replied Shikamaru, surprising many since he seemed interested in something that wasn't shogi for once.

"Alright, second point is the state Sasuke is in. Surely you would have remarked his little crazy moment in the forest where he tried to attack me, this was caused by a seal that was apposed on Sasuke and we still don't know how to remove it. The first symptoms are what is called 'chakra disturbance': the chakra in his coils is starting to mutate due to the seal so right now he can't really do anything with it so he is restrained to taijutsu match. This seals also provoke episodes of unbearable pain that can lead to unconsciousness among other things. Right now, I guess Sasuke is only standing due to his fucking pride even if it is slowly destroying his body." finished Naruto getting surprised looks all around him since he knew so much.

"And How do you know all of this Naruto?" asked a suspicious Nara heir.

"Tch, Orochimaru tried to mark me with this seal once before, just once. The bastard had a surprise when he realized that it didn't work, wonder if he still has the scar." said Naruto with a sadistic grin at the end.

"But, if you don't how to remove it, how come you don't have it anymore?" asked the awed yet curious Akimichi heir.

"Let's just say I'm a special case and leave it at that." said Naruto defensively making them all the more curious about him.

It was at this that they heard the awed voice of the others and they brought their attention back to the match to see Sasuke do a taijutsu move that he called Shishi Rendan (Lion's rage). Naruto gritted his teeth knowing where the little bastard got the move since he didn't create it at all, Shikamaru noticed this and couldn't help himself but make a comment.

"What is it Naruto, what is there with this technique?"

"It's not the technique that is a problem in itself, it's just how he 'created' it." replied the blond shinobi accentuating the creating part.

"What do you mean?" asked Choji.

"To understand it, you have to know what happened before the first exam of this competition. As we walked towards the room 301, we got called by Lee who wanted a match against our current Emo-prince here. In this fight Sasuke was entirely crushed by Lee and his taijutsu even with the Sharingan activated and it was fun to watch. At the end of the match, Lee was about to use one of Konoha's forbidden taijutsu move that I would better not explain since as its names involves it's a forbidden move." said Naruto while chuckling at his own joke but that got the attention of Gai since he knew the technique but didn't know that someone of Naruto's situation would know about it.

"But let's not get sidetracked, as I said before he was about to do the technique but was stopped by Gai here before it could become dangerous. But in all of this Sasuke managed to copy the first part of the technique and apparently he made a bastardized version of it that is much weaker. You could say that he stole the move to make something not really new, just modified and that's why I really want to beat the shit out of Sasuke's ass. Because even if Itachi was a little crazy before he killed his own clan, he would have never copied a move from a fellow shinobi before asking the permission, he was at least this considerate of the effort that people made in learning these techniques instead of just taking them as his." and with that Naruto finished yet another lecture that captivated anyone who heard it, it was at this time that Hayate made an announcement.

"Winner, Sasuke Uchiha of the Leaf." said Hayate before Sasuke was taken by Kakashi to what Naruto assumed was a recluse room to partially seal the fuinjutsu used by Orochimaru.

The names started showing again on the board before they settled on two names that had Naruto smirking and Shikamaru grumbling.

Shikamaru Nara vs Tsuchi Kin

The competitors started to go on the ground, Shikamaru reluctantly so as Naruto threatened him if he didn't fight seriously. And Seriously he did as the match lasted only five minutes with Shikamaru the winner in a brilliant display of mastery over his shadow along with the use of the arena he was fighting on. It was amusing to see Shikamaru grumbling about annoying blond as he reached the stairs leading to his friends as the board showed new names that had Naruto groaning himself.

Haruno Sakura vs Yamanaka Ino

As the girls were 'fighting'( read that a first year academy student could do better), Naruto and the others were talking about the possible outcomes of the fight( read gambling).

"I say 100ryo that Sakura wins." stated Kiba with a grin.

"100ryo that it's Ino." replied Choji with the same grin as his canine counterpart.

"Troublesome, same as Choji." stated Shikamaru with a sigh but you could sense a slight undertone of excitement in his voice.

"100 ryo that it's a draw, double knock-out." said Naruto with a grin surprising many.

"A draw, are you serious Naruto?" asked Kiba while laughing at Naruto.

"Yes, neither of them are true kunoichi yet and I doubt Sakura will ever be, but Ino could with the right push." he said while looking directly at Asuma who got the message and nodded, it was his job after all. "And skills wise, while Ino has her clan technique she is still inexperienced at using it to its full potential. Sakura is just a glorified civilian with just enough chakra to use the academy three, so she is virtually useless. They will end up losing the preliminaries together but hopefully it will have opened the eyes of Ino to the life of a shinobi, one of death." Naruto finished his analysis on the match.

And surprisingly enough, it happened just as Naruto had predicted and they lost together by a double knock-out that was totally embarrassing to the kunoichi population. This outcome had the three genin grumbling about devil's luck while Naruto was grinning as he pocketed his 400ryo of his wins. Meanwhile, other names appeared on the board.

Higurashi Tenten vs Sabaku no Temari

As the girls descended in the arena, you could hear Naruto let out a sigh of pity but for which girl was a mystery before Choji asked.

"Hey Naruto, why are you sighing?"

"I'm sighing because I know that Tenten will lose, badly." said the battle expert surprising many but getting a frown from Gai who replied.

"And why should my student lose Naruto-san?"

"Oh calm down Gai, observe Temari and you will know why Tenten will lose considering that she specializes in weapons." replied Naruto with his own frown.

Gai, still frowning looked at Temari for 10sec before he saw what Naruto saw and his eyes widened and he looked back at Naruto.

"I'm sorry Naruto-san, I should have been more observant. Indeed even if it saddens me Tenten can't win against her opponent." said the taijutsu master surprising Lee greatly.

"What are you saying Gai-sensei, surely Tenten's flames of youth are brighter than her opponent and she can win." stated Lee.

"Lee, you have to understand that even if you're the best there are some battles that you can't win." said Gai surprising many because of his serious tone.

"But why should Tenten lose?" asked Lee confused.

"Let me explain that Gai." said Naruto earning a nod from Gai. "You have to know that Suna is a village where most ninja are specialized in wind manipulation compared to Konoha where most are specialized in fire manipulation. As you can see Temari has a battle-fan, this was a weapon that was largely used in the 3rd shinobi war by Suna. The battle-fan users used their weapons to maximize the power behinds their wind jutsus which allowed them to creates monstrous gusts of winds that could shreds boulders. What Temari use is a lower quality battle-fan, surely her back-up, it will only her to creates gusts of winds that do not cut. But against Tenten that specializes in close combat weapons and throwing weapons she is utterly outclassed and she will lose without having touched Temari once." Naruto finished yet another of his lectures.

This had the effects of having the jonins complete attention since Naruto analyzed the fights perfectly and even gave the genins lectures on the history of the world with lectures of how the fighters battled and what could be the possible outcomes without failing once. It was suspicious if you considered the grades that Naruto had in the academy and how he was dumb but there he showed signs of intelligence that had many left dumbfound. It was at this time that the board showed two other names after the defeat of Tenten and the scolding Temari had by Gai. These two names had many excited since they will finally find the true power of Naruto.

Uzumaki Naruto vs Inuzuka Kiba

As the two genins descended upon the arena, one Anbu looked longingly at Naruto as a lover would his partner. She could still remember the times she had with the teen in their young days before this damned day where he was sealed. She never had the chance to confess to him and she never would if she couldn't find a way to free him of his seals. She longed for the days where all they would do was train, laugh and hang together like best friends would even if it was in secret it was paradise for her.

Iruka had called her 3 days back to ask her to come see the preliminaries because there was something that would be interesting for her. She couldn't fathom what would be interesting as there was nothing but a bunch of genins and her long time friend Naruto that didn't remember her. It hurts to see him without being able to be beside him like before, it really hurts to not be with him anymore. She had almost killed herself back then after his sealing because sh missed him so much, if it wasn't for their other friends she would already be dead. So she decided that she would see the fight of Naruto and go back to her apartment after that, it was the least she could do for him.

In the arena, back with Naruto and Kiba:

As they stood in front of each other in the arena, eying the other to see a breach in their defenses even if Naruto just looked bored to be here. Kiba decided that it was time he taunted the blond genin since he was sure of his victory against the knucklehead, bad choice.

"You should just surrender Naruto, you won't win against myself and Akamaru. You are just a knucklehead without any talent."

At the comment knucklehead, the temperature seemed to go down a few degrees before Naruto spoke in a chilly tone that sent shivers in the spine of almost everyone.

"Hayate, I recommend you start the match before I do something that would make me disqualified."

"H-Hai, the match opposing Uzumaki Naruto against Inuzuka Kiba will start. Are you both ready, Hajime!" said the jonin before jumping out of the arena.

At this, Kiba immediately gave a red pill at Akamaru who swallowed it before chakra started exploding out of him and Kiba shouted.

"Human beast clone jutsu!"

At this Akamaru and Kiba were covered in smoke before it cleared showing two Kiba with feral features as they were together on all four as a beast would. The other genins in the balcony were impressed by Kiba's jutsu but the ones who saw the true Naruto were shaking their heads at the stupidity of the boy for taunting the man. Kurenai approached Kakashi with a smug smile since he knew Kiba would crush Naruto, oh how wrong she was.

"So Kakashi, seems like one of your student will lose again."

"Yes, I know Naruto isn't strong enough to beat Kiba. He isn't mature enough." replied Kakashi, earning himself disgusted looks from the genins and even from Gai and Asuma as to how he could overlook one of his genins without a care in the world.

"Excuse Hatake-san, but I think that it's Kiba who will lose." stated Shikamaru in an annoyed voice with a frown.

"And what makes you say that Shikamaru?" asked Kakashi with a small frown.

"I saw Naruto truly fight in the forest of death and he could send the Sound team away with just his aura and presence. So I think that Kiba actually doesn't stand a chance against him." explained the Nara heir earning an incredulous look from both the jonins in front of him before Kurenai snorted.

"It's not nice to lie Shikamaru, as if a mere genin like Naruto could do that. Even I can't do that." stated the smug red-eyed jonin.

"Then does that mean Naruto is stronger than you?" asked Shikamaru with his own grin.

This made Kurenai blush in anger at the nerves that the genin had to state that she was weaker than the dumb Naruto. It was really a blow to her pride to be insulted like that. It was at this time that an explosion appeared in the arena creating a screen of smoke hiding the two competitors before Kiba and the transformed Akamaru jumped out of the smoke with grins on their faces. This made Kurenai smug knowing that Kiba and Akamaru used Gatsuga (Fang over Fang) on the orange-clad genin.

"See Shikamaru, I told you Naruto would lose."

"I'm not so sure, we still don't know the state of Naruto in this smoke." replied Shikamaru with a knowing grin.

Back in the arena:

Kiba wore a smug smirk knowing he had won against his opponent so he decided to taunt Naruto a little bit more, this will be his last error.

"So Naruto, you couldn't even touch me, you're just talk and without bite. You're nothing compared to me."

"'sigh' You just can't shut up you mutt." said a deep baritone voice in the smoke that alerted the canine genin.

This declaration shocked many in the attendance since some of them knew this tone very well for being at the end of it. Hayate was sweating profusely knowing the man would come at him later because of what he had done to _her_ while he was sealed. Sarutobi too was nervous, he knew who it was and knew the ear lashing that he would receive later and he wasn't looking forward to it. Iruka, Shikaku, Genma and Ibiki were giddy to regain their friend and they were looking forward to speak with him again. _She_ was shocked, it couldn't be real, he couldn't be back. The seals surely hadn't broke down without help, but she couldn't shake off the feeling of hope she was feeling at the prospect of seeing him again.

As the smoke cleared, a figure of about 6feet was seen until the smoke cleared entirely showing a blond man of approximately 20 years old, clad mostly in black and with a katana strapped on his back. The figure was smirking at the shocked looks in the public at his appearance. Ti was with a grin that he spoke again to Kiba.

"So mutt, are you ready to lose since I have better things to do than to stay playing with you."

"What are you saying bastard!" yelled Kiba before launching himself and Akamaru in another Gatsuga.

Naruto grinned even more and as the two tornadoes were upon five feet of him he disappeared from view to reappear 10 feet behind them with his still sheathed katana in his hand. And that's when all hell broke, the two twister stopped brutally spinning to show a battered Kiba and an unconscious Akamaru who reverted back to his true form. It was a shock for everyone, almost everyone didn't see how he beat Kiba apart from Gai, Sarutobi and Kakashi who had his Sharingan out since he thought it was a genjutsu. Naruto walked back to the balcony before he turned his head toward Hayate.

"You should declare the winner Hayate."

"Ri-Right, Uzumaki Naruto winn..." started Hayate before he was cut by Naruto.

"Kazama Naruto, I'm Kazama Naruto."

"Kazama Naruto wins." stated the Gecko while sweating under the gaze of the blond destroyer.

With that Naruto marched back to the group in the balcony with the adult remembering him making Kurenai and Kakashi start panicking at his sight. It was Lee who spoke first with an awed look.

"It was amazing Naruto-sempai, how did you beat Kiba, I didn't see you since you were too fast even for me."

"Let me explain Lee." said Gai with a knowing look at Naruto who nodded. "You see Lee, what Naruto used was just pure speed, even if it was this fast it's not the fastest he can go I can attest that." said Gai earning shocked looks from the genins. "When he disappeared he just ran fast and drew his katana still sheathed before he proceeded to give 12 blows at Kiba and one light blow at Akamaru. It was amazing, we will have to spar again Naruto, like the old times." finished Gai with a loud laugh.

"We sure do Gai-sempai, we sure do..." he started before a female voice cut in.

"Naruto Kazama!"

Everyone turned to see a stunningly beautiful woman with long purple hair, a generous bust even hidden behind her armor and the most flagrant features was her angry look on her face. Naruto seeing her ran a hand in his hair before looking at her and saying.

_"Hey, long time no see …"_


	3. Chapter 3

**This chapter is going to be rather short about 2k words instead of my normal 5k chapters for other stories, sorry I had things to do and people were PM'ing me for updates often so I figured this short but decent update would satisfy for a while longer.**

_**Chapter 2 - Friends reunited**_

"Naruto Kazama!"

Everyone turned to see a stunningly beautiful woman with long purple hair, a generous bust even hidden behind her armor and the most flagrant features was her angry look on her face. Naruto seeing her ran a hand in his hair before looking at her and saying.

"Hey, long time no see..."

Inside Naruto's mindscape Kurama was sitting reading his Icha Icha books and looked over towards his newly installed TV on the wall to see an interesting sight and decided to watch with popcorn waiting for the inevitable fireworks that were going to happen.

"Don't you 'Hey' me!"

Naruto looked around and saw that everyone was looking in his general direction which slightly unnerved him, he looked towards the Hokage with such a glare that promised him that if he was going down he was going to take the old man down with him.

"Now now Yu-Chan, it's not my fault I swear!"

She walked over to him with everyone watching, the walk was slow and he started to anticipate certain doom that was going to come. Kurama was snickering in his head but at the same time was sending chakra pre-emptively towards his entire body to heal any damage that was to come and perhaps just maybe numb the pain.

She stopped a step in front of him and was wondering what he would do after she had finished but decided to take the risk, if she didn't get the chance last time then she would definitely do it this time. Her mask off and tied to her waist, she leaned in and kissed him on the lips surprising not only him but all the Jonin there.

Naruto responded by bringing one hand to her waist and wrapping his arm around her back pulling her closer into him. Ignoring the wolf whistles from Kiba, they parted from each other's embrace red faced and slightly embarrassed.

He looked around, his arm still around her waist; he noticed that all the Jonin were staring at him. Asuma Sarutobi had dropped his cigarette from his mouth, Kurenai Yuhi had her mouth hanging open, Gai was giving his 'Good Guy' pose with the shiny teeth effect and his former sensei Kakashi Hatake dropped his Icha Icha book; not one to miss an opportunity he quickly used a D-Ranked katon jutsu without any hand signs to burn the book.

He looked at Kakashi with a smirk of victory. "That is what you get for being a total asshole to me when I was on Team 7, I have the chakra reserves of several Kage level Shinobi and at least 3 different affinities! How on earth could you not pay any attention to me, fair enough you didn't pay any attention to the pink haired bimbo but me! Just fuck you Kakashi."

Kakashi at this point was on his knee's holding what appeared to be the ashes of his book crying, muttering something that sounded remarkably like 'Rest now little precious, daddy will put you back together so you can be precious again' over and over.

"Now Yu-Chan, I know you must hate me but It wasn't my fault I swear!"

"What about it wasn't your fault?"

"The entire thing! It's not my fault that I was stronger than the geezer at the age of 12! Him and that fucking council sealed away all my strength and skills making me the 'Dead-last Dobe' of this graduating class. I mean come on I was 12 again, how on earth do you people think I learnt the Kage Bunshin in a few hours? I already knew it."

"I believe you Naru-Kun but you're still in the dog house."

"The fuck?"

"What did you expect? Come back and everything be fine? Nope, dog house for a while."

"Oh, I'm about to live up to my Moniker and go all Itachi on the council for this! I thought Orochi-Teme on equal ground and almost killed him multiple times only to be sealed by the council! IT'S INFURIATING!"

"Calm down Naru-Kun."

At this point all Jonin and Genin alike were looking at the pair with a questioning look wondering what the fuck was happening but some of the Jonin that were there had a huge grin on their faces knowing things were about to get much more interesting again.

It was Kurenai who was the first to speak up. "Urm, not that I'm not thankful for the book Naruto-San but I think I speak for a number of people here when I say 'The fuck is happening'?"

Naruto looked to Yugao and then back to Kurenai and sighed, "That is hard to explain and will probably make all the Genin lose faith in the Shinobi system that is currently in place. Tell me, what do you know of 'The Death Shadow'?"

"Well that's a stupid question, he's a myth."

Naruto just smiled at this, "I'm sorry to say but you're wrong Yuhi-San."

It was Asuma's turn to speak this time and decided to ask the next obvious question, "What do you mean?"

Gai and Yugao both had shit eating grins on their faces at this point in time, "Well it's quite simple, my name is Naruto Kazama, I am the Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune and the council tried to turn me into a weapon for their own benefits but what happens when the weapon grows too strong for them to control?"

Everyone was looking at him and he just sighed, "I am the last of my blood line the Aohigan Dojutsu which is belonged to the Kazama clan. I never knew my parents but what we do know is I was born the Heir to the clan, my clan itself is as old as the Uchiha and was infinitely more powerful." Getting a glare from Kakashi and Sasuke he just continued ignoring them whilst getting some gasps from certain people.

"I was 6 when the civilian council somehow got the Shinobi council to train me into a weapon, being a civilian the Shinobi part of the council had no choice but to do what was required. I became the best of the best rising through the ranks of Shinobi and fast, I was trained by several major clans in Konoha in non-clan related things that they were willing to share with me, Yu-Chan here and her father taught me Kenjutsu which I am really good at by the way.

I was considered the 'Go-to guy' for missions that were considered Suicide missions for entire ANBU squads, I never gave up and I was relentless. I always completed my missions no matter what.

Eventually I earned the Moniker "The Death Shadow" because I was so fast that anyone who was my target or anyone who got in my way would see a shadow and then they would die. I killed hundreds of people but all for the protection of my home, there isn't a day that goes by that makes me wish I hadn't."

"Holy shit, he was meant to of gone missing 8 years ago."

"Right, I was 12 and getting too strong. The civilian council in all its wisdom decided that a weapon is only good when you can control it. I was and probably still am strong enough to kill the Hokage a few times over before becoming tired and they saw this, they couldn't use me anymore; I wanted to be a regular Shinobi, have a life and a girlfriend maybe get married some day and have a few kids to carry on my blood line but they took that away from me! They sealed me away making my chakra control always shit and my reserves almost 1/10th of what they were!"

A round of gasps went round the crowd and the Hokage just looked down in shame, "Pop quiz! Now tell me clan heir and clan heads of clans within Konoha are to follow certain rules and other rules don't apply to them who knows what happens when someone attacks a clan head?"

Asuma decided to answer, "The person who attacks the head are at the heads digression, they can kill them if they want and they don't need proof either."

"Very good Asuma-San, I would expect nothing less from the old man's son. I was sealed 8 years ago making me the sacrifice for this village by the civilian council and after this tournament is over I will follow my rights by executing every single civilian council member not to mention seeking monetary compensation from their families for the 8 years of my life that I've missed! Not to mention my chance at a normal life with Yu-Chan!"

When Naruto just finished speaking everyone paled knowing he meant business but Yugao just blushed at the last part.

"You can't be serious?"

"Are you fucking kidding me? the decrepit old fools are dead along with Danzo for taking part in this, they should of known that it would only be a matter of time before Kyuubi blasted through any seal placed on my body.

Now whilst we been talking the matches are finished, I think we should pay attention Ne?"

Hayate still looked kind of scared knowing that he was going to get such a bitching because of what happened between him and Yugao but chose to continue with his Job anyway, "Those of you who passed please come and collect a number so we can proceed."

All Genin except Naruto walked down and picked a number but when they noticed he hadn't they looked at him as if to say 'Well you coming or not?' "The fuck are you looking at me like that for? I'm not picking a number did you not hear me, I'm an elite Jonin for Christ sakes; the only reason I even continued after the seals broke was to tease Yu-Chan."

Yugao punched him in the arm for that remark whilst Kurenai glared at him for beating her Genin and not continuing, "Fine whatever."

"Come Yu-Chan, let's get the guys and go for a drink we have a lot of catching up to do and in the morning we can go into the council chambers and have some fun." He said with an evil glint in his eye that made her shiver.

He looked over to the Hokage whilst everyone was leaving to see him with a lone tear coming out of his eye, "Old man you better make sure the civilian council don't run, I'm wanting payback especially against that banshee slut of a mother."

The Hokage said nothing, he just pulled his hat over his eyes so that no one could see them and walked away with his head down in shame.


End file.
